Dutch gov’t knew about Turkish intel trucks five months before Cumhuriyet report: CHP

ISTANBUL

The Dutch government received information regarding controversial Turkish intelligence trucks bound for Syria five months before main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Enis Berberoğlu allegedly handed the documents to daily Cumhuriyet, the CHP has stated.

According to an Oct. 26 report in Cumhuriyet, a commission formed within the CHP to monitor the legal process of Berberoğlu’s arrest on espionage charges found that the Dutch government responded to questions by lawmakers at the Dutch parliament over the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks.

“The government is aware of documents proving claims that Turkish trucks carried weapons to Syria and documents delivered [to the government] by Dutch MP [Pieter] Omtzigt,” states the CHP report, quoting the Dutch authorities.

CHP Eskişehir deputy Cemal Okan Yüksek said the documents had therefore already been revealed in the Netherlands five months before Berberoğlu allegedly provided them for the Cumhuriyet report on May 27, 2015.

“So how was this a state secret? It is obvious that there was spying activity against Turkey going on. Documents on the MİT trucks were handed to a foreign state, parliament and government and Berberoğlu had no relation to that. Berberoğlu is a victim chosen by the government in order to both harm the CHP and to acquit themselves,” Yüksek said, urging an immediate release of Berberoğlu.

He also added that the CHP had contacted the Dutch parliament and called on the Turkish government to immediately reveal who had provided the Dutch authorities with the documents regarding the intelligence trucks.

Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison on June 14 for allegedly “leaking state secrets” in the MİT trucks case, in which he is accused of providing Cumhuriyet with a video purporting to show the MİT trucking weapons to Syria.

The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court ruled that Berberoğlu had “knowingly helped a terror organization” by providing “state secrets” to the media after gendarmerie forces halted the trucks near the Syrian border on Jan. 19, 2014.